Uttar Pradesh

This book presents an in-depth analysis of key recommendations of the consecutive state finance commissions (SFCs) across states of India in the local and national perspective. It reviews the working of SFCs and their critical role in strengthening local governments, both Panchayats and municipalities in the various states. The volume attempts to identify some of the emerging issues related to the efficacy of SFC in fiscal decentralization. It appraises nearly eighty SFC reports and actions taken thereon by the respective State Governments with contextual analysis. Please see the link https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9789811622021#

The Sangh Parivar has essentially merged the registers of Mandal and Mandir by way of creating a viable political block for themselves in Uttar Pradesh. Based on an ethnographic study of the Sangh Parivar in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh and through interviews and participant observation, the article examines the roles played by various elements of the Sangh Parivar in expanding the vote base of the party. First of all, the article analyzes how the Sangh Parivar uses the strategies of social engineering and politicization of diverse identities to attract communities who traditionally have not voted for the party. Secondly, it examines the Sangh Parivar’s abilities to respond to local factors and develop political alliances within constituencies with varied demographics without compromising its core principles. Lastly, the article documents how the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functions like a corporation, with a committed workforce and clear division of responsibilities, and engages in electoral and political mobilization.

Panchayati Raj is a system of governance in which gram (village) panchayats are the basic units of administration. It has three levels: village, block and district. Mahatma Gandhi advocated Panchayati Raj, a decentralized form of Government, where each village is responsible for its own affairs, as the foundation of India’s political system.
India's oldest available Granth “Rigveda" also refers to such local committees and gatherings as autonomous, democratic institutions. Historically, despite periodic political upheaval and changes in power centres on various occasions, these autonomous democratic institutions (Panchayats) continued to work in various forms.
In 1994, All gram panchayats of the country were considered as constitutional unit and to establish them as independent institution, to make them similar, to conduct the elections on a fixed time, to empower them financially, 72nd constitutional amendment was presented in Lok Sabha and the same was implemented as the 73rd constitutional amendment in the entire country.
In the case of Uttar Pradesh, the Panchayat Raj Act was signed into law by the Governor General on 7th December 1947, and with this 35000 panchayats representing a population of 5.40 crore came into existence. In addition to this, about 8 thousand panchayat courts were also established. Later on, a provision of the establishment of a comprehensive system of Panchayats was also made in the constitution of India. In 1951-52, the number of panchayats increased to 35943 and the panchayat courts also reached to 8492. In 1952, the Panchayats in rural life planned to start the nation-building work and the first five-year plan also started this year. In 1952-53, the tradition of Zamindari was abolished and the powers of panchayats were further extended. Since then the general election for the panchayats has continued to be held every five years. During the second phase of development of panchayats (1953-54, 1959-60), the name of the panchayat courts changed to Nyay Panchayat. In the continuation of development steps regarding panchayats, the panchayat act was amended in 1961 in the provisions related to the election of Gram panchayats & Nyay panchayats. In addition to this, the District Council Act, 1961 was adopted based on the Shri Balwant Rai Mehta Committee’s recommendations for the decentralization of power.
In 1988, the sixth general election of gram panchayats was held and in the same year, the Panchayati Raj Act 1988 was amended to ensure 30 per cent representation for women. In addition, provision was also introduced to ensure that each gram panchayat provided representation to at least one female SC member. 
In keeping with the Seventy-third Constitutional Amendment 1992, Uttar Pradesh Kshetra Panchayat and Zila Panchayat Adhiniyam, 1961 was amended in 1994 to establish a three-tier Panchayati Raj Institution system of elected bodies. The amended act envisaged decentralization of power to rural self-governing bodies, viz. Gram Panchayat (GP) at the village level, Kshetra Panchayat (KP) at intermediate level and Zila panchayat (ZP) at the district level. The system of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) aimed at increasing the participation of people in local governance and effective implementation of rural development programmes. The overall supervision, coordination, planning and implementation of developmental schemes were vested with the ZP.
The total rural population as per Census 2011 (Provisional) was 15.51 Crore (13.71 Crore as per Census 2001). At the end of March 2011, there were 72 ZPs, 821 KPs and 51, 914 GPs in the state.
The last election to the elected bodies of the aforesaid PRIs was held during October-November 2010, in which 51,914 Gram Pradhans for GPs, 821 Pramukhs for KPs and 72 Adhyakshas for ZPs were elected.
On 28th September 2011, three new districts namely Prabuddha Nagar, Panchsheel Nagar and Bhim Nagar were created. With these new districts, the total number of districts has gone up to 75 in the state. All these 75 districts have District/Zila Panchayats. At subsequent levels, there are 821 Block/Kshetra Panchayats and 51,914-gram panchayats.

Hyperspectral data are generally noisier compared to broadband multispectral data because their narrow bandwidth can only capture very little energy that may be overcome by the self-generated noise inside the sensors. It is desirable to smoothen the reflectance spectra. This study was carried out to see the effect of smoothing algorithms - Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT) and Savitzky–Golay (SG) methods on the statistical properties of the vegetation spectra at varying filter sizes. The data used in the study is the reflectance spectra data obtained from Hyperion sensor over an agriculturally dominated area in Modipuram (Uttar Pradesh). The reflectance spectra were extracted for wheat crop at different growth stages. Filter sizes were varied between 3 and 15 with the increment of 2. Paired t-test was carried out between the original and the smoothed data for all the filter sizes in order to see the extent of distortion with changing filter sizes. The study showed that in FFT, beyond filter size 11, the number of locations within the spectra where the smooth spectra were statistically different from its original counterpart increased to 14 and reaches 21 at the filter size 15. However, in SG method, number of statistically different locations were more than those found in the FFT, but the number of locations did not changing drastically. The number of statistically disturbed locations in SG method varied between 16 and 19. The optimum filter size for smoothing the vegetation spectra was found to be 11 in FFT and 9 in SG method.

Vending on the street is a worldwide fact and the most able to be seen component of the casual economy. Street vending, like other informal sectors, is characterised by low pay, ease of entrance, self-employment, and a huge number of individuals. Millions of individuals make a livelihood selling a variety of products and services on the street in cities and towns all over the globe. Despite the popular assumption that street selling would decline as the economy improves and wealth rises, it is on the rise in many areas. Because of their poor level of education and abilities, street sellers are often individuals who are not capable to get usual employment in the remunerative recognized sector. They attempt to address their financial issues by relying on their own limited financial resources. They are primary sharing route for a wide range of the daily-use goods, such as fruits, vegetables, ready-to-wear clothes, home appliances, stationery, toys, newspapers, magazines and shoes among others. If they be removed from the urban marketplaces, it would create serious problem for vegetable and fruit growers and small-scale businesses that couldn't afford to sell their goods via the formal sector's costly distribution networks. The significance of this industry can not be overstated, particularly given the government's inability to offer employment to India's millions of jobless and underemployed citizens. Even the corporate sector can only absorb a small part of our growing workforce. Overall, employment in the official sector is decreasing, leaving the majority of Indians to fend for themselves. If governments wish to decrease unemployment and poverty in our nation, they should support people in the informal sector to develop and thrive. They play an important part in the economic development and growth of local economy. Municipal authorities see street sellers as nuisances and the encroachers on sidewalks pavements and they are unappreciative of the important services that the street vendors offer to the world's common public. Vendors on the street offer essential services to urban people while surviving on their own business, limited resources, and labour. The state government and municipal authorities have been asked to provide security for street sellers so that they may make a living without fear.

Huge investments are being made by the Government of India for development of highway projects with the assumption that creation of transport infrastructure will bring about economic and social development along their corridors. However, several studies show that transportation is not the only driver of development.
In this study we compare the levels of development and settlement pattern of districts that lie both on and away from the corridor to assess the importance of transport infrastructure in regional development.

The National Highway 2 which cuts across 13 of the 71 districts of Uttar Pradesh with varying levels of development within a single governance structure is taken as the case study.
Levels of development are assessed by using a composite index and z-scores for development indicators. Settlement pattern analyses include rank size, nearest neighbor, kernel density and directional distribution of settlements.

The study indicates that the mere presence of a highway is not a determining factor of the levels of development of the districts along it. Other drivers of economic growth also play a role. Consequently, the corridor cities show a slower growth rate relative to the non-corridor cities. However, a significant increase is taking place in the number of Census Towns and Nagar Panchayats and in the rates of growth of smaller towns irrespective of their location vis-à-vis the highway.
The settlement pattern analyses show that rapidly growing larger urban centers have a propensity to drive development in their immediate hinterlands implying that new and smaller towns would be influenced positively if they are functionally linked to these urban centers. It is also indicated that clustering in belts positively influences levels of development if the settlements are aligned and distributed along the highway. This suggests that a corridor pattern of settlement distribution is beneficial and can be chosen as a strategy for regional planning in the state.

Gorakhpur is situated in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh in India near the Nepal border. Aurangabad, a small village is at a distance of 19 kilometres from Gorakhpur, which deserves special reference in terracotta toys. Among the clay products of Uttar Pradesh, clay figures of animals, gods and goddesses are made by local potters at Gorakhpur. Thousands of hands have received worldwide appreciation for the city of Gorakhpur. Gorakhpur focuses on the humble craft of terracotta toy making that enriches our daily life. Various faces, costumes, decoration is superb. Statues or idols are realistically produced for festivals. It is an art which touched the peacock of creativity, imagination in the hands of the master potter. The process of pottery making is briefly discussed. This paper concludes the main issues and challenges of craftsmen and discussed the conversation with academic workers, artists, craftsmen in the industry. The main point of the study is about various tools, skill, knowledge of materials, work styles are highlighted in it. Some possibilities for the development of the craftsmen are suggested here.

§ Prof. Dr. Rana P.B. Singh (born: 15 December 1950) is researching in the fields of heritage planning, especially sacredscapes/religious places and heritagescapes, pilgrimages and settlement systems in Varanasi region since around five decades as writer, promoter, collaborator and organiser, and also did field studies in Japan, Sweden, Italy, Korea, and China. On these themes, he delivered special lectures and seminars (79 times, 1976—2020) at various institutions in countries like Australia, Austria, Belgium, China PR, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Indonesia (Bali), Italy, Japan, Rep. Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, USA (& Hawaii), USSR (Russia). His contributions include - Spatio-temporal Dimensional theory of Diffusion, Space Articulation theory in Indian villages, Literary images & Spirit of Place, Ritual Mandala & Sacrality of Space and Time, Pilgrimage Mandala, Ritual Mandala, Sacred Geography & Cosmic Order of Holy Places, Geomancy & Cultural symbolism in Hinduism, Concepts of Sacredscapes and Faithscapes, Pilgrimage systems and Self Organised Criticality theory, Cultural astronomy and Ordering of Sacredscapes and holy cities, Architectural symbolism and Heritage planning, framing the Heritage/ Sacred & Spiritual Ecology, 'faithscapes and sacredscapes', and RWYC- Reconnecting With Your Culture. His publications include over 340 papers and 43 books-anthologies on these subjects, including Banaras, Making of India’s Heritage City (2009), Sacred Geography of Goddesses in South Asia (2010), and Hindu Tradition of Pilgrimage: Sacred Space and System (2013).
[Res./ Home]: Usha Apartment- # N 9/ 87 - D 41 (Flat 101-102), Lane No. 5, Janaki Nagar Colony (near Hanuman Mandir), BLW Flyover – Badi Patia Road, PO: Bazardiha, Varanasi, UP 221106. INDIA
Mobile-WhatsApp: [+091]- 98381 19474. Tel.-LL: [+091]-542-2985281.
Email: ranapbs@gmail.com ; rana.RWYC.india@gmail.com ;
web: https://bhu-in.academia.edu/RanaPBSINGH/Papers/
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Prof_Rana_Singh/publications http://www.svabhinava.org/HinduCivilization/RanaPBSingh/ https://www.facebook.com/rana.singh.507027,
ORCID- https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6031-9086 ; rana.singh.507027@facebook.com
UPDATED: 01 February 2022.

B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) advocated the religious conversion of Dal-its to Navayana Buddhism as the pillar of the future struggle against caste. Th is article examines the implications of this turn to religion for the Dalit movement. As shown by its convergence with Marx's critique of bourgeois citizenship, Na-vayana exceeds the framework of political liberalism. It is argued, though, that Navayana is neither an orientalized version of liberal politics, nor is it fully contained by Marxism. Th e ethnography highlights the revival of Navayana in the 1990s in a context of disillusion with institutional politics. With the rise to political power of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in this period, Uttar Pradesh emerged as the new center of Dalit politics. However, the BSP government also disappointed many former activists, who then turned to the Navayana movement. What spaces and possibilities did Navayana open up to further the task of Dalit emancipation that political power failed to achieve? The ethnography highlights the Navayana movement's practical difficulties and dilemmas, caused by its being advocated and practiced by secular minded activists hostile to popular religiosity.

The present study is the first preliminary checklist of Birds from Jodhpur Jhal Wetland, Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), India. The area is located in Farah Block of District Mathura’s Koah village Panchayat close to NH-2 (Agra-Mathura National Highway) Uttar Pradesh, India. The survey was carried out between 2019 to 2021. A total number of 181 bird species were observed and most of them were photographed as well. The identification was done using field guides, relevant literature, expert suggestions, and online bird data depositories. The observed 181 species belong to 57 orders of the class Aves and the highest number of birds were observed belong to the order Passeriformes. Out of the 181 species recorded from the observation period, 169 species recorded were among Least Concern (LC) category followed by 3 species in Vulnerable (VU) category, 1 species in Endangered (EN) category and 8 species in Nearly Threatened (NT) category. Among the total observed species, the highest number of the species observed were Residents (136), followed by Migratory species (33) and Residents Migrants (12) respectively. The present study is the first documentation of the avifauna from the region and the study was aimed for support in the conservation of the endangered and threatened bird species and for safeguarding the habitat of the resident as well as for the migratory bird species of the area.

Written in simple language and recounting many fascinating incidents, this book can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. In particular, for anyone interested in a first-person account of the Indian nationalist movement, it provides a ringside view of various campaigns including the Swadeshi movement, the Mainpuri Conspiracy Case, the early evolution of the Indian National Congress, how and why the salt law was broken, how and why the banned annual Congress session in Calcutta was conducted, how ‘Dhara 144’ was overturned, the first elections held in British India, the Tripuri crisis and Pant Prastav, individual satyagraha and, most dramatic of all, Quit India and life in jail, followed by incidents that took place after Partition.
While this is undoubtedly a book in which a son extols and memorialises his father’s greatness, it is also a book that takes modern readers back in time, enabling them to experience life in rural India under the British administration. It reveals lifestyles, thought processes, and a host of subtleties that effectively uncover historic links, some long forgotten, that led to the making of modern India.
Hari Govind Narayan Dubey is a skilled storyteller and his recounting is a valuable exploration that takes us beyond the shallow façade of the collective memory of the period.

Identification, access to entitlements, and financial inclusion are key sites of negotiation in India’s rapidly evolving governance landscape. Following demonetization and with the proliferation of Aadhaar biometric identification, the Government of India is increasingly tracking money and populations. Amidst these shift in identification and access pathways, this research seeks to understand how access to Aadhar and voter ID for internal migrants impacts access pathways to fundamental rights and formal financial inclusion in five states in India.

National Rural Livelihood Mission is backbone of poverty alleviation program in India. Wheels of this project are Self Help Groups (SHGs). This paper analyses role of Self Help Groups and district administration in creating livelihood. This paper highlights the work done and challenges faced in district of Hardoi

The research paper explores the prospects of tourism and marketing of western Uttar Pradesh. Western Uttar Pradesh state is rich in tourism products like historical Heritage, culture, food and craft, etc. This can be offered to the tourists. Meerut region has various tourism products in the form of historical sites of Mahabharata which have been declared as Mahabharata circuit by the government of Uttar Pradesh state of India. In spite of its high potential in tourism products, Meerut region has not attracted the maximum number of tourists as expected. The basic purpose of this research paper is to explore the prospects of tourism in the Meerut region and finding measures for improvement. Design/methodology/approach based on descriptive and analytical in nature. The primary and secondary data have been used for this study to find out the facts. With the help of a simple random sampling method, this research is conducted on the 250 respondents, and data were collected in western Uttar Pradesh through a systematically structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS software. It is found that the marketing of tourism products, as well as advertisement, are the two tools that increase remarkable growth in tourists' arrival at historical heritage sites in the Meerut region. The outcome of this research study provides policymakers with a good understanding of tourism products of western Uttar Pradesh; this will further enhance them towards achieving the goal of marketing of tourism products. The result of this research paper shall add big value to the existing stock of knowledge for future researchers and academicians.

I focus here on three arenas where Indian history is being produced—in Hindutva mythology about the past, through the named and built landscape of Uttar Pradesh (UP), and through responses to protests at three major universities in northern India. These case studies allow me to focus, in turn, on exclusion, affect, and violence as key mechanisms in the construction of history, an exercise that must always be, to some degree, about the present day.

This is a lightly modified version of my keynote address at the Global SouthAsia@NYU conference, on Friday, February 28, 2020

Badri Narayan does not have an experience of being a Dalit. Nor has he been “academically-trained” at “prestigious” national or international universities. Yet his research and writing about Dalit culture and politics have redefined the discipline and inspired young scholars to enter the field. One of his major contributions is to invent new sources for writing history such as folklores, songs, pamphlets, myths, memories, interviews etc. Some of these sources have also been used in his recently-published political biography of the BSP founder Kanshi Ram. At JNU’s Aravali guest house, on November 28, Abhay Kumar converses with social historian and cultural anthropologist Badri Narayan. The excerpt of the interview is as follows.

Azamgarhi is a unique Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken exclusively by a significant number of the Muslim population residing in the Azamgarh and Mau districts of the Poorvanchal region of the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. It falls in the Central zone of Indo-Aryan and further sub-categorized in the Eastern Hindi group with Awadhi being its closest relative and also the base language. The language has a number of varieties spoken in the Azamgarhi dialect continuum. Broadly, these can be grouped into three dialects- Southern, Northern, and Eastern.

The groundwater samples collected from the shallow and deep groundwater aquifers of an industrial area of the Kanpur city (Uttar Pradesh, India) were analyzed for the concentration levels and distribution pattern of nitrogenous species, such as nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N), nitrite-nitrogen (NO2-N), ammonical-nitrogen (NH4-N), organic-nitrogen (Org-N) and total Kjeldahl-nitrogen (TKN) to identify the possible contamination source. Geo-statistical approach was adopted to determine the distribution and extent of the contaminant plume. In the groundwater aquifers NO3-N, NO2-N, NH4-N, TKN, Org-N and Total-N ranged from 0.10 to 64.10, BDL (below detection limit)-6.57, BDL-39.00, 7.84–202.16, 1.39–198.97 and 8.89–219.43 mg l−1, respectively. About 42% and 26% of the groundwater samples of the shallow and deep groundwater aquifers, respectively, exceeded the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) guideline value of 10 mg l−1 for NO3-N and may pose serious health hazards to the people of the area. The results of the study revealed that the groundwater aquifers of the study area are highly contaminated with the nitrate and indicates point source pollution of nitrate in the study area.

Varanasi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the world, and one of the most important Hindu pilgrimage sites. Despite this importance, very little information exits on the cities flora in general, and medicinal species found within its limit in particular. Traditional medicine plays a large role in Indian society. The presented study attempted to investigate if traditional plant use and availability of important common medicinal plants are maintained in urban environments. The paper presents information on the traditional uses of seventy-two plant species collected form the campus of Banares Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, and highlights the uses of these plants by the local inhabitants.

To identify Fusarium species associated with diseases of root and basal plate of onion, surveys were conducted in seven provinces of Turkey in 2007. Samplings were performed in 223 fields, and 332 isolates belonging to 7 Fusarium spp. were obtained. The isolates were identified as F. oxysporum, F. solani, F. acuminatum, F. equiseti, F. proliferatum, F. redolens, and F. culmorum based on morphological and cultural characteristics. Also, species-specific primers were used to confirm the identity of Fusarium species. F. oxysporum was the most commonly isolated species, comprising 66.57% of the total Fusarium species. F. redolens was identified for the first time in onion-growing areas of Turkey. Selected isolates of each species were evaluated for their aggressiveness on onion plant. F. oxysporum, F. solani, F. acuminatum, F. proliferatum, and F. redolens were highly pathogenic, causing severe damping-off on onion plants cv. Texas Early Grano. Inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers revealed a high degree of intra- and interspecific polymorphisms among Fusarium spp.

The forced surrender and public humiliation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the politico-economic battle over the farm laws engenders feelings of revenge against the farmers.The main target of the BJP counter-offensive is Punjab. Though Punjab is a marginal player in the electoral game of national political governance, controlling only 13 seats of the 543 in the Lok Sabha, the state has emerged as the bastion of the current farmers’ movement against the farm laws that represented the agro-business agenda of India’s leading industrial players, closely aligned with the current BJP government and, by implication, with the Hindutva project. In the weeks and months before the 2022 assembly elections, multiple kinds of efforts – some covert – will be made by the BJP to seek support in the Sikh community. The aim of the BJP’s counter offensive is to create a pro-BJP government in Punjab with the BJP as the dominant party, instead of being a minority partner as it was in the Akali/BJP coalition (2007-2017). Such a government – with a Sikh chief minister and a Sikh police chief on the pattern of the Beant Singh-K.P.S. Gill model during the Congress regime (1992-97) – would be used to break up the farmers’ organisations in Punjab.

Once Punjab’s farmers’ organisations are destroyed, the BJP is confident that the broader farmers’ movement would be crippled.

Mulberry is the sole host plant of the silkworm Bombyx mori Linn which produces silk. The disease caused by fungus Phyllactinia corylia makes mulberry leaves unsuitable to feed the silkworm. The Disease severity is ranging from a few individual spots to numerous lesions nearly covering entire leaves as a result there decrease in the production of quality leaves by 50%